In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« The Great American Idol Blog
Amanda Not Rocked by Exit: "I Had a Different Agenda"
Former American Idol hopeful Amanda Overmyer by Frank Micelotta/Fox
If you're looking for Amanda Overmyer to sing a sad song over her elimination from American Idol, get in line with the patient bunch waiting for the gal to serve up a power ballad. Speaking to reporters the day after her dismissal, Amanda acknowledged that Idol "benefits anybody with any kind of distinction because it gives us that platform to start from and get... the biggest exposure we could ever get." But when it comes to making a legit run for the crown, "You have to look at the demographics of the voters and the people watching American Idol versus the demographics of your particular genre. I know that I target an older audience and a different audience maybe than American Idol provides."
Still, Amanda was thrilled to see the support she got from those who did stand by her. "With someone like me, who is completely different [and] cut out of a different mold from everyone else in the competition, I found that very warming," she said.
So, why didn't the rocker nurse zig when the judges urged her to zag and deviate from her hardcore wheelhouse? "I wanted to be respectful and listen [to Simon, Paula and Randy], but the comments weren’t going to sway me one way or the other as far as what I was going to do," she said. "The objective of being on this show was to go out there and show America me, perform like me, look like me and see how it would take. The comments from the judges were based on the idea of trying to win, and I had a different agenda."
What's her agenda now that she's out of the race? "I’ll give [a music career] maybe a good six months, and if nothing happens I’m going to go back and continue on the career path I started.... Success, to me, is a strong, healthy family and success in whatever job that you do. If this is just 15 minutes of fame, I’m not going to chase it my whole life trying to get it back. I’ll take it for what it is and move on. But hopefully it’s not."
And in case you were wondering what Amanda had on tap had she made Idol's top 10 and had to choose a song from the year she was born? Her pick was going to be "On the Dark Side," from the movie Eddie and the Cruisers. — Matt Mitovich
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 10:57 AM
|
I've read a couple of interviews with Amanda since she's been voted off, and she still has a disagreeable attitude, sounding arrogant and full of herself. And she isn't that good a singer. I'm glad she's gone. She apparently never took "Idol" very seriously in the first place, unlike the other Top 10 contestants who, for better or worse, want to get their singing careers off the ground.
Amanda was a big waste of time.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 11:52 AM
|
|
What are you reading, because I see a girl who isn't going to "sell out" to win. She took it seriously and was able to stay true to herself. She wanted to show America who she is and was pleased when those of us who enjoyed her supported her. I think that is a very healthy attitude. She sees American Idol for what it is a great opportunity for singers to get exposure and show America who they are. There is only one winner and the others have to make the most out of the opportunity and that is what she has done. Good for her! She was gone too soon in my opinion!
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:02 PM
|
|
I think Amanda is about as far from arrogant (!) as we've seen in this competition. (Especially when compared to Carly's many phony faces on elimination night!) She's got a very realistic grasp on who she is and what the competition and doesn't sound bitter about the experience at all. Compared to David H's "Wow!" face, she was the picture of a gracious exit. I was rooting for her to make the tour, just because it's such a nice payday for the contestants. Oh well, now Kristy can buy her horse back. (Fakest back story I've ever heard, BTW.)
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:20 PM
|
GarryB,
You wrote, "Amanda was a big waste of time".
I is quite obvious that you have no clue.
How many times do the judges tell the singers to "just be yourself" when performing?
Amanda did just that.
No, she wasn't going to win the whole thing, but then again neither were 11 others.
Knowing you, your were probably rooting for Danny to win it all.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:26 PM
|
|
I'm guessing that the person who called her "arrogant" just can't handle people that are a little but different. I was a fan of Amanda from the start. The whole reason I liked her was that she WAS different. Every single person in the top ten now is just like everyone else on the radio. Amanda stayed true to herself and didn't take everything so seriously. She was needed in the top ten to spice it up. Now the top ten is boring. And for crying out loud, KLC is awful. She didn't belong in the top 24, yet the top 10.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:39 PM
|
Amanda's awesome. And she's from Indiana so that makes her even cooler. She seems like the type of person me and my friends would have been friends with in college. I'll miss her and I hope that someone contacts her soon.
There's some more quotes from her at aol. In response to a question about if she was bummed to not be going on the tour, she said that "I think they have the best group for it. I think I stuck out. I didn't really fit in with it."
And I think she's right. It also seemed to me like she wasn't very close to any of the others. To me, she always looked uncomfortable around the others.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:50 PM
|
I never really liked Amanda, but not really because of her personality (or at times an apparent lack of personality). When I think of an American Idol, I think of someone who is a vocal chameleon and who has marketable versatility. The fact of the matter is that Amanda didn't have that.
If she didn't want to sing power ballads and try other genres of music, that's her call. But it also means that she never really had a chance to win in the first place. She stuck to what she was good at, and she was right when she said that her sound didn't really reach the bulk of the audience of Idol.
I wish her the best, but I'm glad to have her off the show. I felt like there were other contestants who were trying really hard to show that they have more than one dimension to their abilities as a singer. Let's give them a shot at it, huh?
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 12:59 PM
|
Wow, this to me sounds like it is coming from a confident and self assured woman who knows who she is and what she wants and yet is realistic too. Good for her. People always moan and complain about strong women - that's why self esteem in woman is a problem in this country. I hope she stays true to herself and her path.
I loved Amanda. She wasn't my favorite and I didn't think she had a chance of winning for all the reasons she said. There is no way anyone outside of the wishy washy pop mold will win because of the Idol fan base. If it were possible Chris Daughtry would have won. But I still compared her to early Joplin when she was with Big Brother and the Holding Company. She doesn't have the same personality. Joplin was a wounded, insecure soul and it destroyed her. Amanda is strong enough to hold it together I hope. Good for her.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 1:17 PM
|
|
Can you say "another Loser gone"!
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 1:43 PM
|
There is a difference between "being yourself" and at least TRYING to take on something--in this case a singing style--that's out of your comfort zone. Amanada's refusal to sing anything but hard rock songs in her screeching, Joplin wanna-be style shows a lack of even the slightest versatility. Any good singer worth a damn should be able to sing a ballad, or something a little less predictable, and still find his or her own style and be genuine.
Amanda wasn't interested in listening to the judges comments or constructive criticisms, so she must not have been very serious about improving herself, or avoiding falling into the same old style every time. I don't think the other contestants are selling out by attempting to sing different genres of music, or by singing an uptempo song one week and a quieter song the next. That's what good singers do! But Amanda seems happy to be stuck in that same, tired rut--it got very boring very quickly.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 2:20 PM
|
|
I can scream in a half-ocatave range like that, too, where's my record deal?
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 2:21 PM
|
Geez, with some of the hatin' on here you'd think this girl drowned someone's puppy.....
My question is, why try something different? Simon et al may say that, but when someone does try something different, they are criticized for not staying in their niche. They go back and forth, and I've seen it worse this season and think some of the contestants are now talking back b/c they want some clarity among the contradictions.
When you listen to such rock greats as Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, they don't sound all that different from song to song. Amanda tried it, it wasn't a good fit, she's out, she's optimistic yet level headed, I say let the girl do what she wants and best of luck to her, instead of sounding like that group of popular kids in jr high who got pissed off at that one unpopular girl who didn't want to be like them.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 3:27 PM
|
Amanda has her head on straight, and thank goodness. She clearly realizes American Idol is giving her a chance-of-a-lifetime to become more than a bar-tour singer. I highly respect her outlook on life that her success will be having a strong, healthy family, and it is extremely mature and the farthest from arrogant you could get. I'm glad that we won't see her on some stupid VH1 'celebreality' show in a few years!
It is not arrogant to understand the judges' comments are to shape a winner. America was not going to vote Amanda the winner, and she knew that going in (most of them should know that, or else they are delusional).
I totally agree with an earlier post that the judges are completely contradictory on the whole "try something else, you are boring" v. "that wasn't you, we want to see you be yourself." We've seen it a million times, and we even saw it with Amanda!
GarryB, you are off the mark here.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 3:49 PM
|
For what it's worth, GarryB, I mostly agree with you.
"I don't think the other contestants are selling out by attempting to sing different genres of music, or by singing an uptempo song one week and a quieter song the next. That's what good singers do!"
Very true. That's what I've been saying on other blogs. If Amanda had ever had to try a ballad, she would have failed miserably as the ballad would have exposed her for being the sub-par singer she was.
"My question is, why try something different?"
Because she entered a contest that required it! As an AI voter, I wanted to see if she could really sing, and she never proved that to me. Even a failed try would have been better than no try at all.
"When you listen to such rock greats as Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, they don't sound all that different from song to song."
Absolutely not true. Each of them are definitely known as rockers but pulled off beautiful ballads. Yes, they used the same voice, thus "they don't sound all that different," but they were successful in pulling off more than one type of music. A rock ballad is still a ballad. I would argue, using Bruce Springsteen as the example, that Born in the USA sounded completely different from Born to Run, which sounded completely differnt from Hungry Heart, ditto for Streets of Philadelphia, Darlington County, etc.
All that said, and acknowledging that I was never an Amanda fan (can you tell?), I also recognize that she has a good attitude about being voted off. I don't find her necessarily arrogant, but sometimes being "true to yourself" is not a good thing, especially when you enter a mainstream contest and will be judged based on certain criteria that you cannot possibly achieve, nor were you ever willing to try.
|
|
Mar 21, 2008 4:36 PM
|
|
|
